Assam tea at the Nobel Prize ceremony!

Stockholm: There is an Assam connection to this year's Nobel Prize ceremony here with a special tea served at the grand banquet coming from the northeastern state of India.

For the first time, the Nobel Museum Tea Blend, created in honour of the scientist and Nobel creator Alfred Nobel, formed a part of the Nobel Banquet. The blend is made of Assam and Chinese Keemun tea. "In honour of Alfred Nobel, we have composed a special tea blend.

The blend is based on a Chinese Keemun tea produced in Qimen country situated in Anhui Province. Blended togetherwith an Indian Assam tea, this tea attains a gorgeous colour and lovely scent," the Nobel Museum here said about the unique tea.

"The tea is flavoured with the finest bergamot from Italy, complemented with the sweetness of Swedish raspberries and the fresh taste of orange. A true cosmopolitan blend,"it said. The Nobel Museum Tea Blend was created in collaboration with tea specialist Vernon Mauris and is also sold exclusively at the Nobel Museum here.

Assam produces about 620 million kg of tea annually which is around 52 per cent of India's total tea output. The special Nobel blend comes at a time when Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi is seeking national drink status for tea from the central government to provide an impetus to the consumption and promotion of Assam tea.

Five upper Assam districts of Golaghat, Jorhat, Sivasagar, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia alone produce over 400 million kg of tea annually. The Assam government has already declared tea as the state's official state drink and taken measures to promote Assam tea as a brand in the international market by participating in international trade fairs.